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We admit that we enjoy an occasional hot dog, and when we decide to munch on a frank, our choice is Hebrew National. We're not sure what they do to those dogs, but they certainly are tasty. Thanks to our fondness for kosher franks, we were well aware the "K" with a circle around it meant the food was kosher, but we were unfamiliar with the "U" and circle. We found an article from the Austin Chronicle titled "Noshing Kosher" that asked, "But what's this U with a circle around it, or the K with the circle around it, or the K inside a star? And what in tarnation does that word 'pareve'
mean?" The article provides an excellent overview of kosher cuisine, but the Kosher Symbols section turned out to be the just what we were looking for. If you see any of the symbols that are represented, it means "the food has been inspected by one of the many kosher certifying agencies in the United States. Each agency identifies itself by its own unique symbol." A visit to Heinz offered a little more color on the "U" with the circle. Commonly known as "Circle U," the circle graphically represents the letter O for "Orthodox," and the U inside stands for "Union." What about some of the other words or symbols on the
packages? The word "pareve" indicates that the product can be eaten with either meat- or dairy-based foods, while the letter "D" indicates that the item contains dairy products. Well, now that we know what the symbol means, it would be good to know exactly what "kosher" is. One of our favorite food sites, Epicurious, offers a lucid definition. Now that we've settled that, please pass the gefilte fish.
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